1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to such a sealing mechanism for vessel that enables to preserve liquid consists of several raw materials, a refreshing drink for example, in single vessel isolating the consisting raw materials from each other in condition that they can be mixed when they are used, and relates to a cap to be used in the mechanism which cap having receiving chamber for raw material.
2. Prior Art
A medicine to be used mixing two agents, a refreshing drink produced by mixing raw material into liquid or the like occasionally changes in quality in case where they have not used or consumed long time after they were mixed, because the mixed agents reacts or the raw material mixed into the liquid is deteriorated by sunlight or oxygen in air. Therefore, as a way to preserve these liquid or the like used or consumed mixing several raw materials and so on in condition their original qualities are kept, a method to separately preserve raw material and liquid to be mixed by providing a cap for sealing vessel to include the liquid inside with a receiving chamber for the raw material is contrived. Then many kinds of means for the method are contrived and there are such means described below as examples.
As the first means, there is a means disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. H08-91418. However, according to this means, a cap of a vessel consists of a movable portion having a receiving chamber and a fixed portion stable to the vessel, and the movable portion to seal the vessel is screwed and fixed on the fixed portion in its structure. Therefore, it is impossible to fix a sealing check member (usually called as a cut-ring) to be obligatory put in purpose of maintaining hygiene. The cut-ring is a circular member connected via connecting members to bottom side of the cap screwed and fixed on the vessel which connecting members can be cut in rotation of the cap, and by engaging the cut-ring on the vessel the cap is not able to be opened without cutting the connecting members. Therefore, it brings an effect of prevent the cap from being opened by third party in wrong purpose in distribution process.
However, in case the movable portion to seal the vessel is screwed and fixed on the fixed portion, there is a problem that the fixed portion itself can be put off the vessel in spite of the cut-ring engaging on the fixed portion. It is possible to apply such a method that connects the cut-ring to the fixed portion. However, a part of the fixed portion has to be positioned inside opening portion of the vessel to open the receiving chamber and such the structure that the opening portion of the vessel is held from its both inner and outer sides is required. Therefore, because the structure is brought to be complex, there is a problem of cost to make structure wherein the fixed portion is screwed on the vessel. Accordingly, the cut-ring being able to be brought in effect as being united with a member to be screwed on the vessel is hardly applied to this means wherein the portion to seal the vessel is not screwed directly on the vessel in structure.
Further, as being such a complex structure, there is a problem that the cost tends to be high because of requiring constructing processes and so on.
Therefore, it is preferred that a cap to seal a vessel is screwed directly on the vessel. Then, as such a means, there is a means disclosed in Japanese utility model publication No. S44-12957 (called “the second prior means” below), or there are means disclosed in Japanese utility model publication Nos. S50-18846, S50-18847 and S50-18848 (called “the third prior means” below), further there is a means disclosed in Japanese utility model publication No. 50-18844 (called “the fourth prior means” below).
At the second prior means described above, inside a vessel body a narrow portion to open a receiving chamber is formed. Here, as ways to form the narrow portion, tightly inserting a cylindrical packing having funnel-shaped bottom portion inside a mouth portion of the body, or forming a protuberant rim projecting inside on a root portion of a bottle neck of the body are disclosed.
At the third prior means described above, an inner plug forming a receiving chamber is provided at a cap of a vessel and a member for closing and opening is vertically projected from a bottom side of a top wall of the cap. When the cap is removed from the vessel, while the inner plug separates from the top wall and is left on a top portion of the vessel, the member for closing and opening leaves from a bottom face of the inner plug, a leak hole formed on the bottom face is opened and raw material reserved in the receiving chamber is to be discharged.
At the fourth prior means described above, a receiving chamber formed at a cap is sealed via an inner cap characterized in structure. Here, the inner cap has a bottom plate being larger in diameter than inner diameter of an opening portion of a vessel and having flexible rim portion, and the rim portion of the bottom plate is shaped to hardly bend downward at settled condition. When the cap seals the vessel, the rim portion of the bottom plate of the inner cap inserted with the receiving chamber into the opening portion bents upwardly and shrinks, but as passes the opening portion and reaches to extended wide portion it returns to original state and is fixed. When the vessel is opened, while the cap moves upwardly, the inner cap is held inside the vessel as its rim portion of the bottom plate engages to inner surface of the opening portion and is fixed there, but at last the inner cap drops off the receiving chamber and the receiving chamber is to be opened.
However, as the second prior means requires a vessel of special shape having a structure to open the receiving chamber, vessels widely distributed in market are not able to be used and there is a problem that cost of the vessel is increased.
According to the way of tightly inserting the packing inside the vessel body, ordinary vessels are able to be used. However, outer circumferential surface of the packing has to be pressed tightly to the inner surface of the vessel for tightly inserting the packing into the vessel having smooth inner surface, while the cap itself has to be screwed on the vessel. Namely, when the cap seals the vessel the packing has to be inserted being rotated, and there is a problem that the sealing process is to be extremely difficult.
Further, according to the third prior means, it is impossible to tightly fix the inner plug to the top wall which plug has to be separated from the top wall only by rotation of the cap, and the receiving chamber formed by the inner plug and the top wall is not able to be sealed completely. Therefore, it is difficult to completely prevent raw material reserved in the receiving chamber from oxidation, brownishness, aging and deterioration caused by oxygen in the air.
Further more, according to the fourth prior means, in case where the rim portion of the bottom plate of the inner cap is made to bent downward too much by production error and so on, there is a fear that the inner cap is stuck in the opening portion as it moves upwardly with the cap when the vessel is opened and plugs the vessel without it drops from there.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to provide a sealing mechanism for vessel which mechanism enables to prevent raw material and liquid from quality deterioration by using a cap being able to be fixed easily and directly to a vessel to separately preserve the raw material and the liquid to be mixed, and enables to surely discharge the raw materials preserved in a receiving chamber without plugging the vessel, and also aims to provide a cap to be used in the mechanism.